Have you ever been invited to join a secluded community that practices polygamy, rejects technology and fashion, uses secret handshakes, handles snakes, and blindly follows a charismatic personality who thinks he is the reincarnation of Jesus?

Well… you still haven’t. (Perhaps those cults exist somewhere else.)

How to Know a Cult When You See One

How do such strange cults get members? Obviously, they lure you by using MK-Ultra style mind-control, and then trick you into selling your children and signing your life away in preparation for the end of the world.

Actually, that’s not how it happens. The errors of the Christian cults most often begin with getting the Bible wrong and end up with you being subject to a set of rules and interpretations enforced by elders who claim sole authority from God.

But doesn’t that sound similar to what most Christian churches do? They all claim to use the Bible, preach Jesus, have the Spirit, and keep the Lord’s commandments. Is it possible that cults and false teaching are more familiar than you first thought?

The apostle Paul warned early Christians about those who preach “another Jesus”, “another spirit”, “another gospel”, or those who “bring you into bondage” (2 Corinthians 11:4; 11:20). It is important that you identify a cult when you see one, and avoid them.

All the cults teach Jesus, but they teach him differently. All the cults teach the gospel, but it is not the right gospel. So, how do you know which Jesus and which gospel is right?

The standard by which a cult is identified and truth is taught is the Bible, but perhaps that is part of the problem. If you don’t know the Bible, how can you know if you are joining a cult?

What We Teach In Our “Cult”

Here are a few creeds from our “cult”. You decide if it sounds cultic, or rather how you always thought church should be.

We study the Bible when we meet together because we believe it to be God’s word. We let God alone be true, whereas any man can be wrong (Rom 3:4).

We teach you to understand the Bible in your hand (2 Tim 2:15). When you learn to study the Bible for yourself, no one can tell you what to believe. You can read it for yourself.

We believe in asking questions and allow time for them at each meeting so that no one is blindly following the leader or tradition in ignorance or doubt. We want you to be fully persuaded in your own mind not tricked or manipulated (Rom 14:5).

We believe that Christians have one Head and that the Lord Jesus Christ. He is not replaced by a pope, pastor, organization, or elder (Col 2:18-19). There is no one that can have dominion over your faith or bring you into bondage (2 Cor 1:24; Rom 8:15).

We believe liberty is found in Christ who made us free from the law by grace, faith, and the love defined by the cross of Christ (Gal 5:1; Rom 5:8; Rom 6:14). Even if our church leaders wanted to control you, they have no law to bind you with, and you have a Bible that you can understand.

We believe love is a greater motivator than the law, grace works better than guilt, and hope is more powerful than healing (Rom 5:2, 8:1; 2 Cor 5:14).

We don’t collect tithes or pass offering plates, because we believe people should give as they purpose in their heart, not when we purpose for them (2 Cor 9:7).

We believe faith has an object, and that object is the Lord Jesus Christ, God manifest in the flesh. Christ died for our sins, and rose from the dead to offer free salvation to all who trust his finished work to pay the penalty for sin, and provide the power of eternal life (1 Cor 15:1-4; Col 2:9; Rom 3:20-28).

We believe God’s will has been revealed in the Bible, and it is no longer a mystery kept secret (Eph 1:9-10; Rom 16:25; Eph 3:9; 1 Tim 2:4). There is not a mystical hidden message for you to learn after proving your loyalty to a group.

We believe the only thing you need to join is the Body of Christ, which is done by the Spirit at the moment you believed the gospel (Eph 1:13; 1 Cor 12:13). We don’t keep membership lists, so you couldn’t join our church if you wanted to. But you can participate in our ministry together as our church grows with a mutual faith.

Do you find yourself agreeing with these? Does any of this sound like the activity and belief of a cult to you? Maybe you are starting to fear your mind is being bent by a cult right now!

Maybe some of the statements above are different than what you’ve always believed about church. If that is true, and you are interested in learning more we have doors that work both ways so that you won’t get stuck inside.

It would be our pleasure for you to visit, ask your questions, and put us under a closer cult examination. Make sure to bring your Bible which is the standard by which a cult is measured and truth is taught.

When you show up we’ll make you a nice tall glass of kool-aid… just in case you want to join.